North Carolina home heating fire injures one

May 29, 2013

North Carolina home heating fire injures one

Article provided by Warren & Kallianos - Injury Lawyers
Visit us at http://www.burninjurieslaw.com

In a recent frightening incident, a High Point, North Carolina man was injured in a boarding house fire. The fire, which apparently affected only the man's unit in the building, was reported to the fire department around 2:30 A.M.

A fire department spokesperson stated that flammable materials were ignited by a space heater, starting the fire that caused the injuries.

Home heating fires happen all too often

According to the National Fire Protection Association, or NFPA, in 2010 more than 57,000 fires in American homes involved heating equipment. Heating equipment was implicated in 15 percent of the home fires that occurred in the United States that year.

These fires resulted in 1,530 injuries to persons who were not professional firefighters. Nearly 500 civilians died in these home heating fires in 2010.

The property damage costs due to home heating fires in 2010 amounted to $1.1 billion, said the NFPA.

Half of the home heating fires over a five-year period ending in 2010 happened during the winter months of December, January and February.

Space heaters and other equipment

For the time period from 2006 to 2010, about a third of the home heating fires, like the recent High Point fire, were caused by space heaters. The North Carolina man was lucky to escape with his life; space heater fires were responsible for 80 percent of deaths caused by home heating fires.

Fire venting components that became clogged due to poor maintenance contributed to more than a fourth of home heating fires. Usually the culprit was creosote buildup in chimneys.

Fire prevention measures

Regular chimney cleaning to prevent creosote buildup can help reduce the number of home heating fires.

Additionally, the NFPA cautions that it is dangerous to put combustible items too close to heating equipment -- the cause of the High Point fire. Such items may include clothing, bedding or upholstered furniture and mattresses. This practice was found to be the most frequent cause of fatal home heating fires, leading to just over half the home heating fire fatalities.

Dealing with the aftermath

The extent of the burns suffered by the man in the local fire was not yet known when the story was reported. Many survivors of house fires are left with devastating injuries that can take a long time to heal and lead to considerable medical expenses. Besides medical costs, burn victims may incur the loss of wages during recovery, perhaps never being able to resume the careers they had before the fire.

Any North Carolinian who has been injured in a home heating fire may have legal recourse to recover the costs of the injuries. Contacting a North Carolina personal injury attorney, especially one experienced in handling burn injury matters, is the first step toward pursuing a legal claim.